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Old 11-21-2013, 10:11 AM   #1
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External battery pack for small speakers

My wife and I enjoy listening to music when we are camping. Our favorite is Native American flute music. Seems so fitting to be listening to that while at camp. The battery powered iPod docking station with speakers that we used for a few years is now broken beyond repair.

My son recently purchased a Bose SoundLink Mini Speaker that sounds amazing. It has built-in rechargeable batteries that are recharged with a 120V power supply that can plug into a recharging cradle or directly into the speaker unit. The output of that is 12VDC. All of these high quality speaker units seem to use built-in batteries.

There are times when we are camping without shore power and it would be handy to be able to plug in an external battery pack to power the speakers. I have a battery pack that uses (4) AA batteries to power / recharge my cell phone. I have not found a similar unit that will provide power at 12VDC.

I have found rechargeable power packs that can output 12VDC, but they use built-in batteries, so once the charge is depleted, there is no more power. With replaceable batteries I can keep an ample supply of fully charged batteries to use in an external power pack…if one exists for 12VDC.

So, do any of you folk know of an external battery pack that uses replaceable standard size batteries (AA seems most common) and outputs 12VDC?

As always, any input is most appreciated.

Craig T.
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Old 11-21-2013, 10:19 AM   #2
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Craig, The power requirement of your speakers is likely quite a bit higher then a cell phone. You are probably best to get a small 12 VDC lead acid battery. 3-7 Ahr. Like the ones used in a breakaway system, or a chair lift for stairs.
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Old 11-21-2013, 10:55 AM   #3
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Old 11-21-2013, 11:52 AM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Craig D. Thompson View Post
My wife and I enjoy listening to music when we are camping. Our favorite is Native American flute music. Seems so fitting to be listening to that while at camp. The battery powered iPod docking station with speakers that we used for a few years is now broken beyond repair.

My son recently purchased a Bose SoundLink Mini Speaker that sounds amazing. It has built-in rechargeable batteries that are recharged with a 120V power supply that can plug into a recharging cradle or directly into the speaker unit. The output of that is 12VDC. All of these high quality speaker units seem to use built-in batteries.

There are times when we are camping without shore power and it would be handy to be able to plug in an external battery pack to power the speakers. I have a battery pack that uses (4) AA batteries to power / recharge my cell phone. I have not found a similar unit that will provide power at 12VDC.

I have found rechargeable power packs that can output 12VDC, but they use built-in batteries, so once the charge is depleted, there is no more power. With replaceable batteries I can keep an ample supply of fully charged batteries to use in an external power pack…if one exists for 12VDC.

So, do any of you folk know of an external battery pack that uses replaceable standard size batteries (AA seems most common) and outputs 12VDC?

As always, any input is most appreciated.

Craig T.
My Bose Soundlink portable speaker from COSTCO came with built in batteries as well as an AC adapter and a 12V DC adapter. I have not found a need for an external battery pack. We mostly use the 12V DC adapter which can plug into a regular cigarette lighter style 12V plug as is present in many of our fiberglass campers.

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Old 11-21-2013, 01:34 PM   #5
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Old 11-21-2013, 02:25 PM   #6
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Maybe I am missing something, but why can't you just connect to the U-Hauls battery with a cord plugged into a 12 volt outlet? There are water proof recepticals for the outside. ? I run my 120 volt flatscreen that way, bypassing it's 120-12 volt power supplt.



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Old 11-23-2013, 12:43 PM   #7
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The 12V DC adapter plugged into the trailer battery is most likely the best solution. I do not have a solar panel or generator so in the long term it might be a problem. At this point we are not without shore power for a week or more so it probably will work just fine.

The sound quality of the Bose is so superior to the few docking speaker stations that I have tried (other brands might be as good, I have not listened to them) it seems worth setting up to use it.

Thanks for the input folks. Any further thought most welcomed.

Craig T.
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Old 11-23-2013, 06:23 PM   #8
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I would think that a automobile jump starter battery pack that has a built in charger. One that would plug into the tow's 12 Volt power outlet. I used to have one. Multipurpose, recharge electronics devices, emergency power for the trailer, and jump start the tow if needed.
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Old 11-23-2013, 06:53 PM   #9
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I would personally go with (And have) a "Jumpit" style battery pack much like this one. They certainly have ample current capabilities for your little amp and speaks, they are external and operate independently of your trailer battery and can be charged up while sightseeing etc while driving your car. I carried and used a similar one for many years. It was dedicated to radios, comp charging etc..stuff that had nothing to do with trailer functionality. AND..I jumped my car with it once too!

If you have no way of reliably recharging your trailer battery, I won't think it wise to bog it down or deplete it with non essentials..like music (Some may argue it's non-essentialness :-P) I would rather sit in a well lit trailer with the heat on at nite than to sit in the dark and freezing while remembering the tunes I heard during the day..the tunes that zapped all my battery power.

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Old 11-23-2013, 07:26 PM   #10
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For me it would defeat the purpose of having a small lightweight portable speaker if I was having to carry a large external battery along with it. As has been stated before, just use the speakers internal power, and if that runs down, plug into the 12V in your trailer.
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